Panel studies Route 30 and Whitford Road area

WEST WHITELAND – Supervisors reviewed expectations, gave direction and chose a planning consultant for the Lincoln Highway/Whitford Road Corridor Committee at their meeting Wednesday.

“All of the applications represented a lot of thought and effort,” said supervisors’ Chairman Keith Choper.

There are eight members on the corridor committee. Members include two citizens-at-large, while the rest come from different boards and commissions of the township.

Committee meetings will likely begin in mid-August, with future meeting dates set at the first meeting. The Lincoln Highway/Whitford Road Corridor Study Committee meetings will be open to the public.

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Supervisors Wednesday awarded URS Corp. of Philadelphia a $62,050 contract to be planning consultant for the project, which looks to update the township’s comprehensive plan, especially in the area near Lincoln Highway, or Business Route 30, and Whitford Road.

URS was chosen out of 10 applicants, four of whom were interviewed by the township this week. John Weller, deputy zoning officer, said that URS was chosen based on price, knowledge and time line.

URS said it hopes to complete the project in nine months. Supervisors said the township had originally believed the project would take up to 15 months.

At the meeting, Township Manager Michael Cotter said the first committee meeting will likely be in mid-August. The committee will meet prior to working with the consultant, said Cotter, so members can form some questions for URS.

“We want the committee to be inquisitive and ask questions of the consultant,” Choper said. “We want you to continue to make this a great place to live.”

The committee was funded partially through grant money from the county, according to assistant township manager Pamela Gural-Bear. The Vision Partnership Program Grant was for about $44,000 and will cover about 70 percent of the total cost, with remaining costs covered by the township.

“The last time we updated the comprehensive plan was almost 20 years ago,” said Gural-Bear. “We need to make some changes to fit into today’s world.”

The committee will be responsible for a land-use study and to make recommendations to the board regarding current and future zoning of the Lincoln Highway corridor. The study will also focus on Whitford Road from Waterloo Boulevard to Burke Road.

“These two key corridors were the most important,” said Gural-Bear. “In the recent past we got a lot of questions about if it could be rezoned and some of the different needs from the developers. Instead of entertaining all of these different rezoning requests, we thought we could take a look at the whole thing and see how it best could be changed.”

Committee members attending the meeting Wednesday were given a binder with information about their role in the committee, as well as advice from the board and officials.

“The key thing is it comes down to a simple question,” Cotter said, speaking to the committee about its expectations. “Is the plan envisioning a place you still want to live in?”